Vaccine mandate protesters condemned for their behaviour in Canada

Demonstrators protesting against vaccine mandates, masks and lockdowns in Canada’s capital provoked outrage by dancing on the country’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and displaying swastikas and Confederate flags. Some of the protesters in Ottawa on Saturday (January 29) also used a statue of Canadian hero Terry Fox to display an anti-vaccine statement, attracting widespread condemnation. Canada’s Defence Staff chief General Wayne Eyre tweeted: “I am sickened to see protesters dance on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and desecrate the National War Memorial.

“Generations of Canadians have fought and died for our rights, including free speech, but not this. Those involved should hang their heads in shame.” Protesters compared vaccine mandates to fascism, one truck carried a Confederate flag and many carried expletive-laden signs targeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The statue of Fox, who lost a leg to bone cancer as a youngster, then set off in 1980 on a fundraising trek across Canada, was draped with an upside down Canadian flag with a sign that said “mandate freedom”. Trudeau retweeted a statement from The Terry Fox Foundation that said “Terry believed in science and gave his life to help others”. The convoy of truckers and others prompted police to prepare for the possibility of violence and warn residents to avoid downtown.

A top parliament security official advised politicians to lock their doors amid reports their private homes may be targeted. Trudeau said Canadians are not represented by this “very troubling, small but very vocal minority of Canadians who are lashing out at science, at government, at society, at mandates and public health advice?. The prime minister’s itinerary for the day usually says he is in Ottawa if he is at home, but on Saturday it said “National Capital Region” amid a report he has been moved to an undisclosed location.

One of his children has Covid-19 and the prime minister has been isolating and working remotely. Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and the premier of the province of Quebec, who is proposing to tax the unvaccinated, is popular. Some of Saturday’s demonstrators were, in part, protesting against a new rule requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully immunised against the coronavirus.

However, the Canadian Trucking Alliance said a great number of the protesters have no connection to the trucking industry, adding they have a separate agenda to push. The alliance noted that the vast majority of drivers are vaccinated. Some opposition Canadian Conservative politicians served coffee to the protesters, and Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole met with some truckers.

The protest has also attracted support from former US president Donald Trump and some personalities from the right-wing Fox News network. Trump, who has said he is fully vaccinated and boosted, told a rally in Conroe, Texas: “We want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way. They are doing more to defend American freedom than our leaders by far.”

Former US ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman said the threat against democracy is not only happening in America. “Both the use of the swastika and the Confederate flag are symbols of hate. So very sad to see these symbols anywhere and especially in Canada,” he said.

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